Martha Hadsel worked for twenty years as a correspondent, reporter, or editor on newspapers. Later, she
taught many college writing courses since becoming an English teacher in 1963. To prepare for teaching, she
completed three graduate degrees in English, including a master’s in ESOL and a Ph.D.
She retired as assistant English professor at The Pennsylvania State University and lately has taught
English to adult classes for speakers of other languages.
During an ESOL graduate class at Salisbury University, Professor J. S. Vila demonstrated the preposition
"into" by moving a pencil behind the lectern. Later, noting how ESOL adult students became confused with
English rules, Martha decided to design graphics for classroom use in teaching the basic parts of sentences.
Then tree diagrams were added for phrases, clauses, and complete sentences.
The completed project was first submitted as a textbook but rejected because of its cost for printing in full
color. It was color-coded to make the graphics easier to understand.
Finally, the project was changed to two CDs, one a self-study computer program and the other teaching
aids for classes. Now the programs can be downloaded from this web page.
